


Introduction to Coastal Migration

by jabedalien



Category: Community (TV)
Genre: Abed in LA, Blow Jobs, Coming Out, Light Dom/sub, M/M, Post-Finale, about 1 year, ill tag as i go - Freeform, references to alcoholism, surfer abed
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-02
Updated: 2020-09-02
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:47:45
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,342
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26247403
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jabedalien/pseuds/jabedalien
Summary: thanks to all my gnome friends, and shoutout to grace for the title! :)This is set around 1 year after the finale (they leave in may so i'm assuming this is like.. june of the following year?)
Relationships: Abed Nadir/Jeff Winger
Comments: 11
Kudos: 40





	Introduction to Coastal Migration

**Author's Note:**

> thanks to all my gnome friends, and shoutout to grace for the title! :)  
> This is set around 1 year after the finale (they leave in may so i'm assuming this is like.. june of the following year?)

“Winger!” Abed called from the curb, waving, and Jeff rolled his suitcase over to him, immediately wrapping him into a hug.

“I missed you.” Abed said when they pulled away, grinning at each other.

“I missed you too.” Jeff answered, throwing his bags in the trunk of the uber and getting in the backseat next to Abed. “You’ve been living here for so long I can’t believe this is my first time out here, I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright. I don’t go back home as often as I should either.”

Abed had been back twice in the year since he’d moved, staying for a week each time. Annie had come to see him here, so had Britta, but it had taken this long for Jeff to feel ready, actually ready to come here.

“I’m so happy you’re here.” Abed said, quietly, like if he was too loud he’d realize Jeff wasn’t really there with him. “I think you’re going to like L.A.”

As the palm trees rolled by on the highway, cut through green hills, he grinned with the realization that he was truly out of Colorado, for the first time in his life. After a second of looking out the window he realized he was probably being rude, but when he turned around Abed’s forehead was pressed to the glass on his side.

“You look good.” Jeff told him, and he turned around, smiling. “The California wardrobe is nice.”

He’d grown into himself a lot in the past year, his hair a bit longer, with curls sticking out in every direction, and Jeff had to remind himself not to reach out and touch them.

“Thanks. Are you excited to go in the ocean?” Abed asked, looking down at his outfit, shorts and a soft blue t-shirt and green slip on vans, kicking the worn heels together. “It’s really nice. I’ve been surfing a lot.”

“Yeah I am, it looks pretty wild from here.” Jeff said, looking out the window on Abed’s side and watching as they passed by the water, glittering blue and going on forever.

_Power 106, I got some brand new music need you to turn it up, and let me know what you think, it’s Childish Tycoon, called --_

“Excuse me sir?” Abed asked, leaning forward and tapping the uber driver on the shoulder. “Can you turn off the radio please? Or just change the channel? Thanks.”

The driver gave him a weird look, but went to the next channel, lyrics saying something about lava, and Jeff recognized the song.

“Abed...” He warned gently.

“Not this one either. Sorry.” Abed added.

Then a third station, and thankfully this one was playing something neither of them knew, and Abed sat back on the seat, resting his head on Jeff’s shoulder.

“Have you ever listened to it?” Jeff asked.

“Not for more than a few seconds, and never on purpose.” Abed told him, and he figured it was meant to sound a little mean, but it really just came off as sad.

“I haven’t really either.” Jeff said, which wasn’t a lie. Sometimes he’d try to read news articles about him if they were on the home page, but those were usually closed out a few sentences in.

“I do have a car, by the way. It’s just a piece of shit. And the air conditioning doesn’t work, and I didn’t want to sit in traffic like that.”

“Understandable.” Jeff answered, and Abed’s eyes were half-closed.

“But there’s always traffic.” He yawned. “So much fucking traffic.”

Jeff looked up to dashboard and saw the map covered in red lines. “I’ll wake you up when we get close.”

Abed stayed like that on his shoulder and Jeff kept looking out the window, watching beaches and hills go by, rows of brightly painted houses. The Hollywood sign actually felt sort of anticlimactic, but everything else made up for it. Particularly Abed’s leg pressed against him in yellow shorts that expose a few more inches of thigh than he’d even shown at Greendale. When the maps read that they were five minutes away, he gently nudged Abed awake. Wide brown eyes looked up at him for a second, clearly having forgotten where he was, and then Abed grinned and grabbed Jeff’s hand.

“Want to stop for coffee, then we can walk the rest?” He asked, pointing out a coffee shop on the corner.

“Didn’t think you liked it, but sure.”

“It’s become an acquired taste. To match my fucked up sleep schedule to everyone else’s in showbusiness.”

They got out and Jeff grabbed his bag, letting Abed lead him into the shop. There were pride flags sitting in a cup by the register, and when he looked out the window he saw them hung next to most of the storefronts. Abed didn’t mention it, but he was probably used to it by now, and had forgotten that it wasn’t like this where they were from, that this was different and new in a way that made his stomach do backflips.

A minute later he sees two guys walk in holding hands, and he didn’t mean to stare but he was definitely staring, the only person who was paying them any mind at all. So he turned his head to Abed, wondering if it looked like they were together, thought it probably did from the casual way Abed stood with his shoulder leaning against Jeff’s chest. He was taken aback with the realization that he _wanted_ that, for the first time in his life he wanted someone to just look at him, and his biggest secret not be a secret at all. Just Abed latched onto his arm, and everyone would know, and absolutely no one would care. Jeff hadn’t thought it was possible, but he’d just landed somewhere that it _was_ , a world out here where he could just be with Abed, and it didn’t have to be a secret they hid under the covers in his dorm room.

“Jeff?” Abed called out, nudging his arm. “What do you want?”

He’d forgotten he was supposed to be reading the chalkboard menu hanging behind the counter, too busy thinking about flags and hand-holding. “Iced tea.” He answered, just saying the first thing he saw posted.

Abed shrugged and ordered for them both. They waited for the drinks and Jeff kept thinking about it, when Abed was swaying back and forth at the counter, still right at Jeff’s side. When the drinks came Abed handed Jeff his and put a straw of iced coffee to his mouth.

“It’s only a few blocks from here.” Abed said as they rounded the corner out of the shop.

“Do you get hit on a lot out here?” Jeff asked him once their feet hit a rhythm on the sidewalk.

“I got hit on at Greendale too.” Abed said with a smirk.

“You’re an asshole.”

“Guys do hit on me more here though, since I’m pretty sure that’s what you’re asking.”

It totally was. Damn it. “I mean I figured so. Things seem different here.”

“It is different here, in a good way.” Abed said, and Jeff nodded in agreement. “Would it make you feel better if I told you I don’t hook up with guys that look like you?”

“Is it wrong if it totally would?”

“Well I don’t.” Abed said. “Rejected plenty of perfectly attractive guys just cause they were taller than me and had stubble or an overly dry sense of humor.”

Jeff didn’t know what to say to that, he’d thought Abed was kidding at first but his response was perfectly genuine. Abed stopped in front of a building and led Jeff up a few floors before unlocking his front door.

The place was small, not much more than a kitchen and a living room, a flight of stairs off to the right that Jeff assumed went up to Abed’s bedroom. It was cozy though, with a big couch in front of the TV and a little forest of plants arranged around the window.

Abed slipped off his shoes and put them on a rack, lining them up against a few identical pairs in different colors and patterns.

“What’s with the Vans?” Jeff asked. “Are they required by the State of California?”

“No shoelaces.” Abed explained. “It’s great, I’m not sure why I didn’t think of it years ago.”

It was sort of funny, Jeff thought, that Abed was here in his grown-up apartment, with bills to pay and a real Hollywood job, but he couldn’t tie his own shoes. But he found his little workarounds, just like he always had, in stim toys and detailed notebooks and television shows. When Abed left part of him thought he couldn’t do it on his own, but Abed was someone who had colorful and _interesting_ art on his walls and a bowl of fruit on his countertop and of course he could do it, he always could. Back then Jeff liked doubting him. He thought about the mirrored glass.

“So what do you want to do?” Abed asked, standing at the kitchen counter with his fingertips wrapped around the plastic cup, wet with condensation.

Jeff wanted to say _kiss you_ , wanted to shove him against the wall, but it felt too early for that. He was still a little disoriented from the flight, but he felt the urge to go _do_ something, even if the city outside wasn’t going anywhere.

“Can we see the beach?”

“For sure. Do you mind if I surf while we’re there? I know a place we can hang out.”

“Sounds good, I’m pretty tired anyway.”

“Was the plane scary?”

“No.” Jeff answered immediately. Abed waited for him to tell the truth. “Okay, a little bit.”

“I really didn’t like it the first time but it’s gotten better.” Abed said, then directed Jeff over to the bathroom and went up to his room to change.

Jeff put on shorts and a t-shirt, and when he came out, Abed was dressed in a black wetsuit, leaning against a tall surfboard. Previously, Jeff hadn’t really considered the implications of Abed surfing, as in what he would be _wearing_ and the quietly confident demeanor that apparently came along with the whole look.

Abed held up a car key on a lanyard. “I hope it starts.”

They walked down the stairs, and out to a yellow station wagon he’s pretty sure his neighbors had in the 90s. During the era where the goal was to put as much wood as possible on a car without it catching on fire.

“I don’t actually trust myself with a better car than this. Not that I could really afford one, anyway.” Abed grinned as he strapped the surfboard to the roof and unlocked the doors.

Thankfully it did start on the first try, and Abed pulled onto the highway, where traffic was nearly at a standstill.

“You weren’t lying about the air conditioner.” Jeff said, pulling down the mirror to block the beating sun, which was covered with stickers. Abed gave a sideways glance like he was checking to see if he noticed the _M*A*S*H_ one.

“Yeah, everything about this baby has seen better days. But there are worse things to be than a starving artist. And I sort of love it now.”

Jeff shrugged in agreement and they drove through the city, past rows of five-star hotels and shopping centers, out to a road along the water, where Abed pulled into a restaurant on the beach.

“Is it weird if I don’t go in the water right now? And I save it for another time?” Jeff asked as they walked towards the shore.

Abed tilted his head when Jeff said it. “I mean that’s fine with me. Do you care if I still surf?”

“Not at all, I can just watch.” Jeff told him.

…

So there he was, watching Abed surf from an outside table at the restaurant, and maybe there were other people on the water too, but he didn’t really notice them besides Abed. He was graceful and light on his feet, even when he was walking against the waves. It was soothing to watch the water, wave after wave hitting the shore, coming within a few feet of the tables, even if he didn't exactly want to swim in it yet. Jeff ordered a drink and sat for a while longer until Abed picked up the board and walked over. The dripping wetsuit was leaving a trail behind him, accompanied by footsteps in the sand.

“What’s that?” Abed asked, gesturing to the drink Jeff’s holding.

Jeff grinned and took a sip from the straw. “Shirley Temple.”

“You ordered yourself a Shirley Temple? In public? Who are you and what did you do with my Jeff?”

“Well… you know.” Jeff answered, stepping around the words so Abed didn’t have to hear him say them. He was still thinking about being _Abed’s_ Jeff. “And it tastes good, alright? Not my fault they named it after that little girl.”

“Fair enough. Gimme.” Abed demanded, leaning over the wooden railing, his hair dripping saltwater onto the plastic tabletop. Jeff held the glass out, and Abed’s mouth found the straw to take a sip.

Abed looked good, beyond good, landing somewhere in the realm of early 2000’s Hollister model and Greek god. The wetsuit didn’t leave much to the imagination, and Jeff tried not to look but he very much was. It wasn’t like Abed didn’t realize though, he was just so often presumed innocent that even Jeff forgot he was far from pure-hearted. Not to mention probably thinking two steps ahead of him.  
They were there for a while longer, Abed catching him up on the show he’ll be working on next. It was comfortable to fall into their old back-and-forth, and Jeff never forgot that Abed’s particular brand of humor always had him laughing this way.

“I missed you.” Abed said for the second time in a few hours, but Jeff knew what he meant.

…

May 13th, 2015. Approximately 3:00 am

Basic RV Repair and Palmistry

_It was the middle of the night, they’d all barely managed to get back to Greendale in one piece. The hand was supposed to have gone to New Mexico, but they gave up before they crossed the Colorado border. Jeff hadn’t brought up to the rest of them that Colorado had boxed him in yet again. They’d spent an hour taking the thing off the roof of the camper, and it probably would have taken half that if it wasn’t for Jeff’s shaking hands. When they’d gotten it down they left Elroy to his RV and gone to their cars. Jeff and Abed ended up alone in the parking lot, and he asked Abed to go to the bar with him. He wasn’t really sure why._

_Abed turned and_ snapped _, in a way Jeff hadn’t even known Abed was capable of. Asked him what the hell he was thinking, what had happened out there, why he’d thought it was alright to hit him like that. Told him he needed to get help, and that he wasn’t the place to get it from, because he was leaving._

_He didn’t know how to tell Abed that he had no idea how they’d ended up here, how this moment was the most sober he’d been in months. Out in a parking lot under the stars, Abed’s voice cutting into him. And it was all wrong, so wrong and he knew he’d gone too far, that they should be getting into the same car, heading home together and laughing at their supposed misfortune out in the mountains. But somewhere along the line, in fact many somewheres, he’d gone and ruined things between them, with drinking and yelling and ignorance._

_This might actually be rock bottom, and looking at the tears streaming down Abed’s face he really hoped it was, hoped there was a way up from here. He saw now that his hand was so big and Abed’s face was so small, and only made of mirrored glass. That Abed was the face for everything Jeff was and wished he wasn’t, everything that he could be if he didn’t drink so much and everything that he could have if he wasn’t such a shitty person. But it was too late for realizations like that, because Abed was leaving._

_Jeff went home and drank himself into oblivion that night, he’ll admit to that. But he really tried to keep his head on until Abed and Annie left. Two days after he found Frankie in her office and told her that “Functioning Alcoholic” was a bit of a misnomer, because he definitely wasn’t functioning at all right now. And she was the type to get things done, Jeff learned it was the only way she really knew how to show how much she actually cared._

But he was sort of happy to say that actually had been rock bottom all that was far away right now, and he was here, sun shining down a thousand miles from everything he’s ever known. Abed had forgiven him, at least enough to say so in the letter he’d written back to Jeff while he was in rehab, the one tucked carefully in his suitcase right now. More importantly he was here with Abed, actually here, and he looked different but his smile was the same as always, and Jeff wasn’t sure how he’d survived without it.

….

“Want to head back now?” Jeff asked, and Abed’s face turned from the glass back to him.

“For sure.”

Jeff threw cash on the table and left through the back gate, walking through the sand, a perfect sunset painted over the water. Thankfully traffic on the ride home wasn’t as bad as it had been the rest of the day, because Jeff could feel the way Abed was looking at him during every red light. Like they’d both been anticipating this part since they last saw each other, and now it was about to spill out of them.  
Abed parked the car just as the darkness was settling, and when Jeff got out he looked up between the palm trees at a grayish sky.

“You can’t see many stars here, with the pollution. I miss that about home.” Abed said.

“I was never the type to stargaze.” Jeff said back, and when he looked down again Abed was standing close to his chest, the smell of the ocean and the scar on his nose standing out on his tan skin, inches from Jeff’s face.

“I missed you.” Abed says for a third time that day, and this time Jeff meets lips in a kiss, hands on the back of Abed’s neck. It’s too much and not enough, and he can’t tell if he needs to strip down right here or take a flight back home to cool off. Abed was desperate but didn’t want to show it, fingers fluttering against his sides and teasing a tighter grip.

“Let’s go inside.” Jeff said, and Abed grabbed his hand, practically dragging him across the narrow street.

They took their time going up four flights of stairs, Jeff stopping at half of them to push Abed into the concrete walls and kiss him. They finally made it up to the apartment, where Abed had to dig around his backpack for the key, and just as Jeff was starting to think he couldn’t survive a second longer they were falling through the front door.

Abed threw his bag down and kicked his sandals away, Jeff doing the same, and appreciating the fact that Abed didn’t wear shoes in the house even though sand got everywhere anyways. Then Jeff stepped in close to Abed, finding the long string on the zipper of the wetsuit.

“Can I take this off?” Jeff asked, running his other hand along the damp fabric and stopping at Abed’s waist.

“I should probably shower first.” Abed told him. “I was in the water in this and then I was definitely sweating outside, and you felt the ac in my car, and—”

“Abed?”

“Yeah Jeff?”

“You want to do this, right?”

Abed nodded his head fast and then grabbed Jeff’s chin for another kiss. “More than anything.”

Jeff thought that line alone was enough to stop his heart, and it took him a second of focusing on Abed’s lips to find words again. “So can we do this right now?” He asked, his hand on the back of Abed’s neck. “I really don’t want to wait any more.”

“Please do.” Abed said back, kissing the side of Jeff’s neck as he pulled the zipper down. “I just didn’t want to be gross for this.”

“I’m not sure how I could ever find you gross right now.” Jeff said, running a hand through Abed’s curls, stiff with the salt water dried in them and watching grains of sand fall from the floor. The wetsuit was still dripping water from the ankles and pooling around Abed’s feet. “You look beautiful.”

Jeff carefully stepped to the side, slowly peeling the neoprene from Abed’s skin. He’s changed a lot since the last time Jeff saw him in this context, tanner and more filled out than he’d been, and Jeff stopped to admire the muscles on his arms. His face was different too, eyes not so wide and some weather to his soft skin. The Abed he’d slept with freshman year had always seemed frail, bones poking Jeff when he wrapped his arms around him. But now Jeff almost found himself intimidated by the strength in Abed’s shoulders and his apartment and his job and his whole life out here. But Abed still looked at him the same, and he still had a hundred DVDs shelved in the corner, so he figured he had nothing to worry about.

“Hey Jeff? What’s so interesting about my back?” Abed asked, and it had a cool tone Jeff hadn’t heard in a long time, the one that reminded Jeff who was really boss between the two of them.

“Sorry.” Jeff answered, pulling the zipper the rest of the way and letting Abed take his arms out of the sleeves. “You’re very distracting.”

“I’m happy I’ve still got it.” He said with a quirk of his eyebrows, and Jeff laughed.

“You could never lose it.” Jeff said, running his hand down Abed’s bare chest, heat boiling in his stomach at the feeling of Abed’s abs under his fingertips. “Can I suck your dick?”

Abed grinned and took a step back to stand in the doorframe, and Jeff moved to stand in front of him. He took in the figure in front of him one more time, still trying to wake himself up from whatever insanely good dream this had to be. When his eyes came back up to meet Abed’s he pushed his thumb between Jeff’s lips, holding under his chin and guiding Jeff down to his knees. He pulled the wetsuit the rest of the way down Abed’s legs, letting his hands linger on the insides of his thighs.

“While you’re doing this,” Abed said slowly as he lifted his feet for Jeff to take the wetsuit off. “can I say some stuff? That I can’t say when we’re making eye contact?”

Jeff looked up at Abed, whose breath turned shallow after the question. “Of course you can.” He answered before taking Abed’s dick in his mouth, hands moving to his hips to steady him when his knees shook with the contact.

“Jeff, I – jesus fucking christ I missed this so much.” He trailed off as Jeff’s lips sunk to the base of his dick, then paused and spoke again.

“I missed _you_ so much. And you look so healthy and happy and really, really hot. I was afraid you wouldn’t like me anymore, that I changed too much and we wouldn’t get along and you would hate it here. But I think we’re doing alright.” His chuckle turned to a moan as Jeff’s hands slid to his ass, and he put both arms against the doorframe to keep himself from collapsing to the floor.  
“I never forgot what we had. Even when I was with him. And things weren’t right for us in the beginning, and after he left they weren’t either. We had two chances and we lost them both before getting a pilot. But right now is different, Jeff.” Abed’s hand moved to Jeff’s hair and ran his fingers through it, pressing into the crown of his head.

“We’ve got it this time, I just know it. And it’s not season seven, not the movie either, just us, starring on our own show. Because you’re doing better, and have I told you Jeff, that I’m so proud of you for all that? I really am, I hope you know that. And I’m doing better too I think, and we made it out of Colorado. I just don’t want you to ever leave, Jeff, it gets lonely and there’s no one else in the world like you—”

Jeff had been so lost in Abed’s words, listening to him pour his heart out between moans that he’d almost forgotten what he was actually doing right now until he was swallowing around Abed’s dick and feeling the rough sand under his hands as he held Abed up by the thighs.

“Sorry.” Abed said as Jeff pulled away and looked him in the eye.

“Why the hell would you apologize for that?” Jeff asked, standing up and letting Abed fall into the door before kissing him, Abed opening his mouth against his lips. Suddenly Abed’s frantic, needy kissing was consuming him, exactly the same as it always had, and everything about Abed could change as long as this stayed the same. He pulled back, gasping for breath.

“Can we go to my bedroom?” Abed asked, and Jeff couldn’t help but laugh at them, Jeff still fully clothed and Abed naked, standing at his front door. The wetsuit was in a puddle a foot away but the salt was dried on his skin and when he shook a hand through his hair even more sand fell.

“I thought you’d never ask.” Jeff grinned, and Abed hit him on the arm as he walked through the living room and up a short flight of stairs to a loft.

“I forgot you didn’t see my room before.” Abed said offhandedly as he reached the top of the steps.

“This is really neat.” Jeff told him he caught sight of the room, a wide window next to Abed’s bed, which was unmade with bright blue sheets. There were shelves lining the brick wall behind it, pictures and books and plants and action figures, and Jeff made a mental note to ask Abed about all of them later. The other half of the room had a closet and a dresser, plus a desk which was messy enough to also infect the immediate area, with a floor covered in papers and sticky notes lining the wall above it. It was all so perfectly _Abed_ that Jeff didn’t know what to say.

Then Abed turned to him with a look he hasn’t seen since their first year together, one that was accompanied by Abed’s hands yanking his shirt off and pulling down his shorts and underwear.  
“Get on the bed.” He directed, and Jeff took two steps back, Abed’s palm pushing his chest, until he was falling against the mattress.

Abed kneeled over him, hand reaching down and wrapping around his dick, which was already painfully hard. Jeff whimpered immediately, his whole body jolting with the contact, and Abed smiled in satisfaction.

“Do you wanna do the same thing?” Abed asked, and suddenly the commanding demeanor was gone again. “I thought… maybe you’d have stuff to say too.”

“I think I do.” Jeff answers, and his mind is already so consumed by what Abed said to _him_ not to mention everything about Abed existing right now. But he definitely did have some things to say, and once Abed went down on him he realized he was going to have to say them very fast.

“Abed I--- I don’t know how this is real, I don’t know how _you’re_ real. I don’t know why you’re giving me another chance. But I’m going to take it, I hope you know that. And not fuck it up.” Abed’s fingers tightened around his thighs, and he has to find his breath again to continue.

“I’m really proud of you too. I know things are… hard for you, Abed. Harder than they are for everyone else sometimes. So I can’t imagine how scary this was. All new people and a totally new place. But you’re doing so well, of course you are, ‘cause you’re a genius. And you haven’t changed, not on the inside, so don’t be worried about that.” Abed hollowed his cheeks around Jeff’s dick and he grabbed at Abed’s hair.

“For one, you’re still insanely good at this.” Jeff laughed, trying to steady his breathing.

“And you look amazing, I didn’t think it was possible for you to be any more _beautiful_ but you definitely are. And god, I love your hair so much.” He added, hand tightening around it just enough to pull at Abed’s scalp.

Abed let out a broken sound from the back of his throat, and that was enough to send Jeff over the edge, unraveling under Abed’s mouth and his hand’s grip against his legs. When Jeff was blinking his eyes back open he didn’t want to look down, still raw with all the things he’d said and afraid to see it all on Abed’s face. Abed crawled forward and collapsed on top of him, the weight comforting as it pressed into Jeff’s chest. He turned them on their side and wrapped his arms around Abed, holding onto him and being astonished by how real he felt. Abed buried his face against Jeff’s shoulder, and his mouth started sucking at the base of Jeff’s neck, not stopping until he was satisfied with the purple mark he’d left.

“That’s gonna look so bad tomorrow, Abed.” Jeff told him.

“Good.” Abed said, “I’m reminding myself that you’re mine. With my distinct bite print.”

“Has anyone ever told you you’re a bit strange?”

“No, you’re the first.” Abed answers, in the voice he always uses when he’s trying to be sarcastic, which is coincidentally also the one he uses when he’s impersonating Jeff. He ruffled a hand through Abed’s hair again.

“You like it that much?” Abed asked into his skin.

“Yes, yes, a million times yes.” Jeff answered, and Abed laughed, chest shaking against Jeff’s.

“You still remember everything.”

“What do you mean?”

“All the things I liked, back then. Pushing me around a little but letting me push you around _more_. And calling me beautiful.”

“You don’t even want to know how badly I missed that part.”

“Getting pushed around?” Abed asked.

“No, telling you you’re beautiful. But that too.”

Abed grabbed Jeff’s hand and started running his thumbs over the palm, and Jeff hadn’t remembered everything, because apparently he’d forgotten about all the times he let Abed stim with his hand. He would usually do it while they were tangled together in the bottom bunk of his dorm room, talking about nothing and everything until the sun started coming up. It was soothing, the pads of Abed’s fingers releasing tension Jeff didn’t know was there.

Hanging among movie posters and old photographs on the wall Jeff noticed a small flag, one he recognized from when Abed had shown it to him on his laptop screen, told him it was his if he wanted it. Back then he wasn’t sure that he did. But up there on Abed’s wall, half-lit by buildings and the headlights of endless traffic, two hands gently playing with Jeff’s fingers, and a perfectly content little smile on Abed’s face, it seemed sort of perfect.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks so much for reading! more of this... soon??? i hope but im not great on the whole "consistency" thing sometimes. im sorry.  
> as always im also jabedalien on tumblr!


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